This fine mid-19th-century oil painting by British artist Edmund Bristow (1787-1876) depicts a farmhouse with a saddled white mare taking water while a cockerel looks on. An older man stands alongside, under the eaves of a thatched roof.

Edmund Bristow was a distinguished painter of animals, still life and genre subjects. His rusticated portrayals of Victorian rural life served a baying aristocratic clientele, eager for his canny observations. Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA (1802-1873) proclaimed that no one could paint a better horse - high praise indeed.

Bristow’s popularity was in part due to his location - he was born in Eton and worked predominantly in Windsor. But also it reflected his precocious mastery of capturing the rustic environs of working families. Often he included animals, which carried expressions to communicate their personalities. Note the alertness of the cockerel versus the tired, somewhat forlorn, appearance of the horse.

Bristow’s patrons included Royalty and several of his works are held in the Royal Collection. His career was effectively cut short when he withdrew from public life for fear of further patronage.

Signed in the lower left and held within a splendid scroll and foliate frame, which is probably original.

Learn more about Edmund Bristow in our directory.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 35½” x 40” / 90cm x 101cm
Year of creation: c. 1850
Provenance: Private collection, England.
Condition: Assessed and approved by our conservator. Cleaned. Canvas relined. Frame restored. Frame with signs of age as you would expect.
Artist’s auction maximum: £29,000
Our reference: BRV1813